First clean out on the new tumbler!
Oct 18, 2020 21:16:40 GMT -5
miket, lordsorril, and 2 more like this
Post by Prov on Oct 18, 2020 21:16:40 GMT -5
I completed my first clean out this afternoon on the new Lortone QT-NR. (66 equivalent)
So let's jump right into what you guys wanna see! The rocks!
In Barrel 1, I had my banded amethyst I was working on prior to my old tumbler dying. I filled the drum with media from my last polish batch, in order to give it enough padding to hopefully reduce chatter. Which seems like it bore fruit this time. Noticeably fewer defects this batch, and the defects that were there seem to have worn down a bit. At the rate we're going, I think it'll only be one more week in rough before I can move it to the vibe!.
On to the Yellow Aventurine - I've never tumbled it before, and I've read it's a bit of a tricky material. On cleanout I noticed a bit of discharge from the drum, but it was contained by the outer lid.
It also smoothed up pretty well, I feel like it's going to go through coarse pretty fast. Maybe 2 more weeks, and it'll be ready for the vibe. It seems like some of it is just quartz, though I'm far from an expert.
Lastly - this new tumbler is a bit finicky on power. I'm not sure if maybe there's a short in the line somewhere, but when I first got it home it didn't want to power on. While manhandling it, it turned on randomly, so I left it run for the week. It's significantly noisier and runs hotter than the old one - That said, that seems to be the operating temp, I checked on multiple times per day, and the temp didn't seem to deviate, so I just have to accept it's a hotter motor I think.
Lastly, I noticed at the end it was leaving a black residue, possible barrel shavings?
the old tumbler also left behind a residue like this, but not in this quantity.
All in all - pretty happy! I'm so glad to be tumbling rocks again. Will probably move the tumbler to the deck outside, when I figure a power solution for it. For now putting the tumbler in a closet has gotten the noise levels down to acceptable limits.
So let's jump right into what you guys wanna see! The rocks!
In Barrel 1, I had my banded amethyst I was working on prior to my old tumbler dying. I filled the drum with media from my last polish batch, in order to give it enough padding to hopefully reduce chatter. Which seems like it bore fruit this time. Noticeably fewer defects this batch, and the defects that were there seem to have worn down a bit. At the rate we're going, I think it'll only be one more week in rough before I can move it to the vibe!.
On to the Yellow Aventurine - I've never tumbled it before, and I've read it's a bit of a tricky material. On cleanout I noticed a bit of discharge from the drum, but it was contained by the outer lid.
It also smoothed up pretty well, I feel like it's going to go through coarse pretty fast. Maybe 2 more weeks, and it'll be ready for the vibe. It seems like some of it is just quartz, though I'm far from an expert.
Lastly - this new tumbler is a bit finicky on power. I'm not sure if maybe there's a short in the line somewhere, but when I first got it home it didn't want to power on. While manhandling it, it turned on randomly, so I left it run for the week. It's significantly noisier and runs hotter than the old one - That said, that seems to be the operating temp, I checked on multiple times per day, and the temp didn't seem to deviate, so I just have to accept it's a hotter motor I think.
Lastly, I noticed at the end it was leaving a black residue, possible barrel shavings?
the old tumbler also left behind a residue like this, but not in this quantity.
All in all - pretty happy! I'm so glad to be tumbling rocks again. Will probably move the tumbler to the deck outside, when I figure a power solution for it. For now putting the tumbler in a closet has gotten the noise levels down to acceptable limits.